Google Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL are arriving

After endless leaks that we have seen recently, Google's new Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL smartphones are now official, coming with Google's latest Android 8.0 Oreo, Qualcomm's Snapdragon 835 SoC and rather high price tags.

The smaller Google Pixel 2 is rather a let down, at least on the design side, as its 5-inch 1080p AMOLED touchscreen (441ppi) comes with wide top and bottom bezels. Although these house stereo speakers, the Pixel 2 looks awkward and it is certainly big for its size at 145.7 x 69.7 x 7.8 mm and weighting 143g.

On the hardware side, the Google Pixel 2 got a decent update with Qualcomm's Snapdragon 835 SoC, paired up with 4GB of RAM and 64GB or 128GB of internal storage.

The Google Pixel 2 XL has slightly smaller bezels around its 6-inch 18:9 P-OLED 2880x1440 resolution touchsreen, leaving it with 538 ppi of pixel density. It has an "Always On Display" feature and is protected by 3D Arc Glass version of the Gorilla Glass 5. It also has a glass back while the rest is made out of aluminum.

The Pixel 2 and the Pixel 2 XL share a lot of specifications including the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 SoC, 4GB of RAM and 64/128GB storage. Both also lack both the microSD card slot as well as the 3.5mm headphone jack and come with the eSIM slot - in addition to the standard nano-SIM slot - which can be used with Google Fi. Both are also IP67-certified.

Both also come with the same 12.2-megapixel rear camera with f/1.8 aperture, OIS and EIS stabilization, phase detection and laser autofocus as well as dual-LED dual-tone flash. The front 8-megapixel camera has a 1/2.6-inch sensor size, f/2.4 aperture, and fixed focus. Google was quite keen to note that this is the best-rated camera, at least judging by the 98 score on DxOMark, beating iPhone 8 and the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 which got a score of 94.

Both Pixel smartphones also feature pressure sensors on their sides, called Active Edge. This is similar to what we have seen on the HTC U11, which allows you to squeeze the smartphone for certain actions, like launching the Camera app, Google Assistant and more.

The Google Pixel 2 comes with a 2,700mAh battery while the Pixel 2 XL comes with a 3,520mAh battery. Both, it's touted, have seven hours battery life on just a 15 minute charge.

According to Google, both smartphones are available for pre-order and will ship on October 19th. The Pixel 2 will be available in "Just Black", "Clearly White" and "Kinda Blue" marketing colors and the cost starts at US $649/€800/£630. The Pixel 2 XL comes in "Just Black" and "Black and White color" marketing options and with a price that starts at US $849/€940/£800. The 128GB versions of both smartphones will cost a US $100/€110/£100 more.